Archives for June 2015

UPDATE (6/30/15): The price at Amazon.com now dropped to $60 with a limit of three per customer. They did not fully price-match OMX/ODP but got much closer than $100…

For the week of June 28 until the close of business on July 4 in 2015, Office Depot and Office Max stores (if available locally), along with their website, are offering the new condition JLab Omni bluetooth Over-Ears for $50 with free shipping or free store pickup. Its regular price is $100. It went as low as $37~ used at Amazon a few weeks ago, but its used price rebounded to around $50.

If curious, it has 128 customer reviews with a 4.1 out of 5 rating at amazon.com with 52 questions answered by the internets.

These could go as low as $10 but if you don’t want to wait, the good old Koss KSC75 clip-ons are on sale for $12.26 with a limit of five pairs per customer at Amazon.com by Amazon actual. They come with a limited lifetime warranty and average 3.9 out of 5 based on 1920 customer reviews.

Members-only Massdrop is probably going to add a few more new members this week. Three new offers were launched today (they have about seven days left from blog-posting date here) and all three of them are fully unlocked (which in their own lingo means the lowest price possible under this particular promotion). The three items are the AKG K181 DJ UE on-ear headphones going for $80 shipped and the Beyerdynamic T90 Tesla for $450 shipped. The third item is not an …item…

Temptation is calling! The first generation Over-Ear Sennheiser Momentums in the brown color scheme are currently available in Refurbished condition for $80 plus $6 flat shipping by adgtron thru Amazon Warehouse Deals. They ship directly from adgtron so they are not eligible for Prime 2-day shipping benefits. The black color scheme, in similar condition goes for $99 shipped.

The Audio Technica ATH-R70x are a parallel to the M70x in open-back form and they are now available in “Used – Very Good” condition for $246~ by Amazon Warehouse Deals, about $100 less than their new condition price.

There is a new coupon promotion, JULY4 (all one word) gets you 10% off a purchase of $99+ OR 15% off a purchase of $249+ at Musician’s Friend. About 40,000 products are eligible, but not everything they carry. Many of the eligible headphones are under the “Pro Audio” category. A number of manufacturers do not allow retailers to discount their products by coupons. The usual terms and conditions apply at MF. Offer ends 7/6/15.

The Monoprice website has a new promotion, use coupon code JUNE20 for $20 off an order of $100+. This is a great deal if you are interested in their Desktop Headphone Amp, product ID 11567, which currently goes for $98.56. Simply add anything else you need (or just another general use cable or adapter if you don’t need anything else) to make your order total is $100+, and that’s it! Total must be $100 before shipping and taxes. The coupon promotion is good for almost anything in their store (the usual exceptions apply), not just the Desktop Amp! The coupon expires at the end of day on 7/1/15.

The Sennheiser G4ME ZERO gaming headset is currently on offer at Massdrop (members only, free to join) with the lowest price possible being $188~ shipped. As of the time of writing, it is not fully unlocked, however, it has 4 days left (as of blog-posting date here) in this offer.

There is a DAP renaissance these days, despite a million and one smartphones available, and if you are catching the bug and are comfortable with used equipment, the Astell & Kern AK100 Mark II is offered in “Used – Very Good” condition for $600 with free shipping by Headamp (98%, 48 ratings) thru Amazon Warehouse Deals. The order is fulfilled by Amazon, so if a Prime member, you get free 2-day shipping. Free slow shipping otherwise.

Added to Massdrop recently, and with about five days to go from blog-posting date is the xDuoo TA-02 Tube Amp that could go as low as $80 plus $10 flat shipping. It already has 6 out of the 15 needed to fully unlocked this price.

The brand new Creative Aurvana In-Ear3 Plus in-ears are currently on a bit of a sale, as of 6/28/15, it is down from $134 to $120 with free shipping by Amazon.com actual, however, the shipping estimate is now 2-4 weeks, so if you are not in a hurry… They have no customer reviews as of the time of writing.

And now a new condition limited time sale, the portable Geek Out 1000 USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier is on sale for $200 with free shipping by the maker LH Labs with the order fulfilled by Amazon (free 2-day Prime shipping). In parallel (and similarly), their Geek Out 100 is on sale for $190. I don’t know when these sales end.

If you are comfortable with used Hifiman products, their HE6 planar magnetic headphones are currently going for $955 in “Used – Acceptable” and $1000 in “Used – Very Good – Open Box” by various sellers at Amazon Warehouse Deals.

The Denon Music Maniac AH-D7100 is currently available in “Used – Very Good” condition for $646 by Amazon Warehouse Deals actual. If you are a more adventurous shopper, also there, there is a “Used – Like New – factory refurbished” listing for $608 by Spheremusic (100%, 12 ratings).

As the Philips X2 Price World Turns! As of 6/28/15, the situation is this: the new condition is down to $267 by Amazon actual, while used it goes for $214~ in “Used – Very Good” by Amazon Warehouse Deals. The previously mentioned “Used – Good” condition for $200 appears to have sold out.

If you missed Monday’s Audio Technica ATM-50x lightning deal for $120, it is back on sale, but for slightly more, going for $127 shipped by members-only Massdrop. Unlike Amazon’s deal that lasts four hours, the Massdrop offer is good for seven days (from blog-posting date). To coincide with this sale, the ATH-M50x Velour Earpads are offered separately for $22 shipped. Both are fully unlocked (aka, their lowest prices possible under this offer).

As perhaps a budget semi-alternative, they also offer the Superlux HD668B semi-open headphones for $38~ shipped. These are not fully unlocked as of the time of writing. They average 4.4 out of 5 based on 320+ customer reviews at amazon.com.

Monoprice has a 10% off sitewide sale when you enter coupon code JUNE10 over there. The coupon ends on 6/26/15 2:59am eastern time. Their usual exclusions apply (usually big ticket items). With the coupon factored in, you can get the good old closed-back over-ear Monoprice 8323 for $18 with free shipping, the Monoprice Desktop Headphone amp (search for product ID 11567) for $88.70~ with free shipping and such. They also have various other headphones and in-ears, along with very decently priced general purpose eartips (search for “replacement silicone” over there with free shipping and prices under $2).

Sennheiser is not shy about having multiple HD 4xx models, and one of them, the new condition HD 439 closed-back over-ears are currently on sale for $40 with free shipping, with a limit of five per customer, by NewEgg on eBay.

If Beats and Bose don’t break your audiophile bones, and you are an Android user, Bose recently released a Galaxy and Android version of their Quiet Comfort 25 ANC headphones (over-ear, closed-back, powered ANC), going for their standard price of $300 and available in either black or stylish. Together with the iOS version, they have 1200 customer reviews with an average of 4.5 out of 5.

The new condition open-back over-ear AKG Q701, part of their Quincy Jones line-up, are currently on sale in new condition for $200 per pair, with all three color schemes having the same price, with a limit of five per customer at Amazon.com by Amazon actual. They average 4.4 out of 5 with 420+1 customer reviews posted so far 🙂

Audiophiles, close your eyes! Don’t read this post 😉 A new earphone from Skullcandy is now in-stock and ready to ship in three different color schemes for $50 at the Skullcandy store. They come with free shipping and lifetime warranty. It has a universal 3-button remote and mic.

The Ultimate Ears 18 Pro Custom In-Ears are currently fully unlocked (lowest price offered) at members-only Massdrop for $975 with free shipping. The offer is good for the next seven days (from blog-posting date). Patience is a virtue for this offer, shipping estimate is late July (2015).

The TASCAM TH-MX2 studio headphones are currently available in refurbished condition for just under $22 with free shipping by the AudioWatt store through Amazon Warehouse Deals. Their new condition price is $30. They average 4.2 out of 5 based on 110 customer reviews.

As of 6/24/15 recheck, the price is $550~… The previously mentioned used options at around $400 sold out, however, we have good news on the new-condition front. The open-back over-ear Sennheiser HD 700 are now down to $505 with free shipping at Amazon by Amazon actual.

The new condition Fiio X1 goes for $100 which is not a bad price, but if you want to save some more, you can get it for $86 with free shipping in open-box condition, in either color scheme, by seller “All About Office” (99%, 8226) through Amazon Warehouse Deals. This model averages 4.3 out of 5 based on 318 customer reviews. Note that it does not have internal storage, so you have to use your own microSD memory cards (up to 128GB).

Three more offers were added to Massdrop, with 6-7 days as of blog-posting date. Of the three, one is fully unlocked (= has the lowest price possible during this particular offer), the JayBird BlueBuds X Sport Bluetooth earbuds going for $115~ shipped. Their lowest price is $121 at amazon.com but in a different color scheme.

The other additions (not unlocked as of the time of writing) are the quick return of the Beyerdynamic DT 1350 CC that could go as $178 shipped (same price as previous June offer) and the Bravo V2 Headphone Amplifier that could go as low as $88~ shipped.

The recently released Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus is currently available in “Used – Good” condition for around $153 (was $133) by Amazon Warehouse Deals.

This is a blanket reminder on used offers, prices change faster and quantities are typically small, so both the prices and availability may be different by the time you read this. The text here cannot update automatically when something changes, so the further away you are from blog-posting-date, the higher the chances are that things will be different. I don’t want to post this giant paragraph on every post because it makes reading and skimming more difficult and it can get irritating if you keep seeing the same block of text over and over and over.